Mr D Tytarchuk v Crossrail Limited — 2019

Mr D Tytarchuk presented his ET1 on 9 February 2019. Only a loss of earnings complaint was accepted at an earlier stage. He did not attend the 7 August 2019 hearing, having emailed the tribunal the previous evening to say he had left the country because of attempts to kill him, and the judge decided to proceed in his absence.

The tribunal found that the remaining complaint was not a claim for wages within s.27 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The substance of the complaint was that Crossrail required him to work through an umbrella company, through Logic Engagements Ltd and Brookson Solutions Limited, and that this meant he paid more tax than he would have done if he had been able to use his own limited company. On that basis, and because there was no contractual relationship between the claimant and the respondent, the alternative route under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994 had no reasonable prospects of success.

In written submissions dated 21 June 2019, Mr Tytarchuk sought to add Equality Act 2010 race discrimination allegations based on the umbrella-company arrangement and alleged comments about a monkey doing his job, calling an employee Urinal, and not employing anyone from Eastern Europe. The judge treated this as an application to amend, applied Selkent Bos Co Limited v Moore, and refused amendment because the limitation period had expired, the new matters were not in the ET1, no explanation was given for the delay, and the proposed claims were considered weak. The remaining claims were then struck out under rule 37(1)(a), and no monetary award was made.